Intelligence Chief for Russian Brigade Killed in Ukraine: Reports

The head of intelligence for Russia's notorious "Hispaniola" brigade has reportedly been killed in Ukraine.

Ukrainian officer Anatoliy Shtefan said that Vyacheslav Subbotin, also known by call sign "Weekend," had been "successfully demobilized" in a Sunday post to X, formerly Twitter.

Ivan Polyansky, correspondent for Russian-state media outlet RT, reported that the death had occurred on Sunday and was "being investigated" by Russian authorities, according to The New Voice of Ukraine.

Anton Gerashchenko, adviser for the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, noted in a post to X that Subbotin had "promised to bring Russian children the ear of an Azov fighter" prior to being killed.

In January, Gerashchenko shared a video of Subbotin telling Russian kids from the battlefield that he would bring a "cut off ear of a Ukrainian soldier from Azov" to "those of you who get good grades."

While he was said to be killed in battle, the exact circumstances of Subbotin's purported death were unknown at the time of publication. Newsweek reached out for comment to the Russian Ministry of Defense via email on Monday night.

The Hispaniola brigade was reportedly originally comprised of violent Russian soccer "hooligans," often politically aligned with the far-right, who had been recruited to fight in Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

The brigade was named after the call sign of its founder and current leader Stanislav Orlov, also known as the "Spaniard." Orlov was previously a member of the "ultra" hooligan group "Red Blue Warriors," supporters of the soccer team CSKA Moscow.

Latvia-based independent news website Meduza reported in April that members of the Hispaniola brigade became offended during a speech at a college in Saint Petersburg after a student pointed similarities between skull-and-crossbone emblems on their uniforms and emblems used by Nazis.

The Ukrainian military intelligence agency (GUR) said earlier this year that the group had since transformed into a private military company and had started actively recruiting under the watchful eye of Putin's United Russia Party.

"At Hispaniola recruiting centers operating in the occupied Ukrainian territories, volunteers are promised 220,000 rubles [about $2,400] a month for direct participation in hostilities against Ukraine," the GUR stated in a release at the time. "The contract is for at least half a year."

"However, financial motivation serves only as a wrapper," the release continued. "For most recruits, the first fight is a one-way ticket. The Russians do not take the dead and seriously wounded from among the recruited 'cannon fodder' from the battlefield, they file them as 'missing persons' in order not to pay the relatives rubles for the breadwinner sent by Moscow to die."

Subbotin's family may be expecting to soon receive a payment of 5 million rubles ($54,650) for his death, as Moscow was offering the sum as an "insurance payment" for Hispaniola brigade fatalities, according to GUR.

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